ABSTRACT
The changing character of modern warfare has thrown up questions about some of our most fundamental assumptions about war, particularly the idea that only states can engage in warfare. It has also sparked a surprising and, for many, unwelcome debate about the permissibility of using torture as a means of combating political violence. In this chapter, we will consider the nature of conflicts between states and non-state groups. We will examine the suggestion that although terrorists are engaged in armed conflict of the sort governed by international law, they are not to entitled protection under the Geneva Convention. The second part of the chapter will investigate an issue that has been explored primarily in the context of counter-terrorism and the ‘war on terror’, namely the use of interrogational torture in ‘ticking time bomb cases’.
